Update 2018 on my Banana Patches
 

Banana Patch Update: No Christmas in October!

This was what I had same time last year: I had about 80 to 90 plants growing here.




This is the same patch now:






This has been a disaster for the patch. Except for a few pstems of the Dwf Brazilian and Dwf Namwah every plant you see came from new pups this year. ...What this means is 'No Banana Bunches'. These pups are not old enough. ... I lost more than half of my established plants. There is less than 40 plants growing. … Plus since 1^st of July I’ve had more than 10” of rain. These plants are standing in soggy ground. ... In this patch, I had planed to have 130 plants or more growing by the end of this year.

Due to the rain washing away the fertilizer I put out, I foliar sprayed these plants this morning. The spray was 80 g of Miracle Grow; 4 g of SOP; and 1 Tsp Tbsp of Epson salt to a gallon of water. The gallon barely covered the 40 (??) plants. … This was why I made the thread about foliar spray and nitrogen content. The spray is much stronger ( 5.6 Xs) than Miracle Grow’s directions but still inline or less than what is normally used on bananas by the commercial growers.

Next the Small Patch: Actually this is my nursery patch where I try raise the pups to expand the large patch or trade off. ... I basically disagree with the practice of thinning or removing pups from the mat. As hobby farmers we can afford to add the extra fertilizer needed by the pups. It's not that much. Where as the Commercial growers don't need the pups nor the extra expense. ... So now these pups are needed to replenish the large nana patch and again no extras to trade this year. ... I think a couple of our members just learned this lesson: lost more than half of their plants and no pups to replant.




Actually this patch is doing good. I only lost my 'one' Gran Nain here. Anyone have an extra they can send???


Ty’s VCs; Pagie and the Huo Moe (I saved from the Large Patch last winter).



The 2 large pots in the back with tall plants: Pagie on the left and Huo Moe on the right. Both of these really started growing in the last 2 weeks. They got very yellow looking, so with 2 weak foliar sprays in the past 5 days they have greened up a good bit. This morning I spray them & the patch with the new mix.

Next row of 3 pots are the VCs: The 2 pots on the left are the original plants Ty sent. One just put out a pup last week. The 3^rd pot, that’s was a problem Vc. The mother corm die back twice and then rotted away. The pup die back 3 times, then rotted away. The 2 pups you see are from 2 pieces of the mother corm I salvaged and cleaned. The pieces were about the size of half dollar cut from the side of the corm with a node. … 2 new pups growing like crazy. The pieces were planted in sand which is on top of potting soil (bottom ½ of pot). When I moved the pot, roots were already coming out the bottom. … So don’t just throw a bad rotten corms away if you can salvage any nodes.

Next row of 2 pots: This is the FHIA 18 on the left and a Williams (Fla) on the right. As you can see both of these are still small. But both have put on a little height (almost double) in the past week or so. I hope the foliar spray will push these to grow more. … I’ll keep these in the pot over the winter. It’s too late in the year to plant to the ground. I'm afraid we will have and early fall and cool weather. Night time temps are already dropping into the low 70°s.


The front row: Are 3 pots of my Truly Tinys. The pot on the left has 3 pups & Mama; the other 2 pots are singles.

That’s my update. It’s been a really disappointing year for the bananas. … It’s 5:30 now (Saturday) and been steady raining for the past 1 ½ hours. Just what the Large Nana patch needs. I think I need to learn how to grow hydroponicly in the mud.

Re: Update 2018 on my Banana Patches
 

Max,



Thanks for the awesome Update and for sharing the beautiful pictures!.....Soggy ground/soil is not good for Nanas!.....That is one of the reasons I use pool filter silica coarse sand as soil for my Nanas!....For drainage and aeration!.....Right now, it's raining almost every afternoon down here!.....It rains so much in South Florida!....


Your new stronger foliar spray (in Miami is "espray!"), LOL, is awesome!.......I'm going to try it!....It's always good for improvement!....I'm with you on that!.....





:2723::bananarow::2723:

Re: Update 2018 on my Banana Patches
 

Thanks for the great update. Hopefully you will have a much better winter this year. What variety is Pagie? By that do you mean Paggi? Or is Pagie different?

Bill

Re: Update 2018 on my Banana Patches
 

It' a Paggi

Re: Update 2018 on my Banana Patches
 

your bananas looked fantastic last year. looks like the pic was after the hurricane. hopefully this winter will be less harsh. I know you will come back again. but your still looking good.

got a gran nain I will give you. pm your address to me. I will send it next week.

thanks for the GREAT PICS thot your camera might be broken.

Re: Update 2018 on my Banana Patches
 

Is this the patch you replanted in 2017 after the original patch was poisoned by the utility company?

Re: Update 2018 on my Banana Patches
 

I bring out my camera, the Ducks want in. Now they (THE Ducks) want a contract & royalties. ... They even threatened to sh't on the Bananas. Haha, who cared ... Free fertilizer! and I've been shoveling their sh't on the Nanas anyway.


I though Gran Nains were cold hardy. Right now my option is Dwf Brazillian, Dwf Namwah, 1000 Finger and Blue Java is a tough and as cold hardy as Orinocos.

Re: Update 2018 on my Banana Patches
 

Yes, that's the one.

Re: Update 2018 on my Banana Patches
 

:ha: the birds have been foliar feeding my goldfinger. but I have to keep the bird feeders loaded for them to do it. aint free.

I thought dc's and nains were cold hardy too. been watching a few patches [not my own]. SEEMS like they die off each year and the next they get to the same size or just a hair bit larger by winter of the next. so if they are small they don't get much larger toward the next. also SEEMS like anything with dc origins wants to do near the same thing. at least in this zone. LOOKS like the bigger the corm size the better it will do the next year. I would maybe bring in a gn for the winter, but its looking like I am going to have a full dining room again this winter.

Re: Update 2018 on my Banana Patches
 

Originally Posted by Akula
Is this the patch you replanted in 2017 after the original patch was poisoned by the utility company?



That's about $20,000 worth of plants gone.

Re: Update 2018 on my Banana Patches
 

Some amazing pictures there ed, great to see the ducks doing their bit for you :ha:

Re: Update 2018 on my Banana Patches
 

This morning I did some serious defoliation on my plants. The plants in the large patch are showing more yellow on the leaves than a couple of days ago. It have been a week since I last foliar sprayed the patch, so I'll be doing it tomorrow morning. And, then keep a schedule of every 5 days for the spray; 7 days is too long.



The ground is still wet but not as wet as has been. If I can get the plants in good condition, they can suck-up 1 1/2 gal water per day each. That would dry the patch out quick.


I'll post some pic later, but not much has changed since the last ones.

Re: Update 2018 on my Banana Patches
 

Hey Ed!

Can you differentiate if the yellowing leaves is due to deficiency in nitrogen or potassium? Are there different characteristics/signs?

Thanks!

Re: Update 2018 on my Banana Patches
 

Just over-all characteristics/signs of nutrient deficiency due to the wet ground and impaired roots.